The Marlins have signed Chris Sampson according to the right-hander's Twitter feed. He was in camp with the Rockies last month, but they released him at the end of Spring Training.

Sampson, 32 next month, had spent his entire career with the Astros before joining Colorado. He owns a 4.42 ERA in 358 2/3 career innings, striking out 4.4 men per nine while walking just 2.2 per nine. A 51.8% ground ball rate helps make up for the lack of whiffs.

FEBRUARY 13: With the Rockies already at full capacity for non-roster Spring Training invitees, Sampson will not receive an invite, Goff writes. Instead, the reliever will be reporting to minor league camp in Arizona.

Sampson told Goff that the Rockies intend to give him every opportunity to succeed at the Triple-A level and will likely be in position for a potential call-up if he stays healthy. The deal will become official upon Sampson passing a physical exam.

Sampson, 32, spent his entire career with the Astros up until now. After turning in a 5.93 ERA with 4.7 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 on the season, Houston removed Sampson from the 40-man roster. The reliever chose to accept his demotion to the minors and delay his entrance to the open market.

In five big league seasons with Houston, Sampson owns a 4.42 ERA with 4.4 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9. The Texas native is represented by Hendricks Sports.

On this day in 1977, Sadaharu Oh hit his 756th career home run, passing Hank Aaron for the (known) all-time professional record. It's just the 'known' record since we don't know for sure how many homers Josh Gibson hit in the Negro Leagues. Oh finished his Japanese career with a whopping 868 long balls.

Some news items…

Andrew Stoeten of the Drunk Jays Fans blog and The Toronto Sun's Bob Elliott both recently outlined the Blue Jays' upcoming decision about Aaron Hill's 2012-14 club option years. If the Jays decline to exercise all three options at once by next Opening Day, Hill can no longer be retained by the team on his $10MM club option for 2014. It's very likely that Toronto will pass on the three-years-at-once option and then look at Hill's $8MM options for 2012 and 2013 after next season. In short, Hill's lackluster play this year has cost him $10MM thus far.

Chris Sampson has accepted his minor league assignment from the Astros and will report to Triple-A Round Rock, tweets Alyson Footer of MLB.com. Sampson could've opted for free agency, but will instead finish the season in Houston's system and pursue free agency in the offseason.

If Eric Hosmer continues to develop, ESPN.com's Jason A. Churchill suggests that Kansas City might trade Billy Butler to avoid paying him a significant contract. Butler is a first-time arbitration candidate this offseason and could make 10 times his current $470K salary in 2011.

Cleveland manager Manny Acta says that Jensen Lewis' future with the Tribe may depend on how he looks in relief outings this September, writes Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Lewis will reach arbitration for the first time this winter and is out of options, so he's a possible non-tender candidate.

In a reader chat, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News gave his opinion on such Rangers hot stove topics as Cliff Lee's future with the club and whom the Rangers might target in free agency this winter.

Eric Chavez "is not ready to announce [his] retirement," tweets MLB.com's Jane Lee, but would consider a post-playing career of coaching or broadcasting (also from Twitter).

Blogger El Lefty Malo looks at how the Giants have gotten better at acquiring "band-aid" veterans.

Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall tells FOXSportsArizona.com's Jack Magruder that money will not be a factor in hiring the team's new general manager, but admits "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't an issue."

Links for Thursday, exactly ten years after the Angels signed Ervin Santana as an amateur free agent…

Aubrey Huffis enjoying his time in San Francisco, writes Chris Haft of MLB.com. Huff, who signed a one-year, $3MM deal with the Giants in the offseason, will be a free agent at season's end.

The Marlins still consider Bobby Valentine a candidate for their managerial opening and Valentine didn't rule out the possibility of re-starting talks with the team, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).

The Astros announced that they removed Chris Sampson from their 40-man roster. He has three days to accept a minor league assignment or opt for free agency. Sampson told MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that he realizes his time with the Astros is likely over.

The Mariners say they knew little about Josh Lueke's history with the law when they acquired the pitching prospect in the Cliff Lee trade, but both the Rangers and former Mariners pitching coach Rick Adair have different versions of the story, as Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times explains.

Unsure where your team is going to pick in next year's draft? Check out our reverse standings page, which we link to under 'Features' on the right side of the page.

Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reports that the D’Backs plan to speak to De Jon Watson, the Dodgers assistant GM for player development, about their permanent GM job. Also in the running, some familiar names: Jerry Dipoto, D’Backs assistant GM Peter Woodfork, Kevin Towers, Damon Oppenheimer and Logan White.

The Rangers and Dustin Nippert have avoided arbitration, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $650K according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan. The righty was eligible for arbitration for the first time after earning $412K in 2009.

The Rangers have signed Esteban German to a 2010 contract. He'll earn $600K in the majors and $200K in the minors. They offered contracts to their other arbitration-eligible players including Scott Feldman, Chris Ray, Frank Francisco, C.J. Wilson, Dustin Nippert, Brandon McCarthy, and Josh Hamilton.

The Twins will tender contracts to all 30 unsigned players on their 40-man roster. That means Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, J.J. Hardy, Brendan Harris, Francisco Liriano, Pat Neshek, Delmon Young, and many more figure to be in the Twins' plans in 2010.